There’s much greater job security in working independently and having a variety of sources of income. Whether as a plumber, or a writer, an accountant, or a dentist, those people who have customers and/or clients rather than an employer will be in a much stronger position to weather this recession.

If your entire income derives from one source, that one source holds your future in their hand. If you have 20 or 30 “employers”, all of whom contribute a smaller amount to your bottom line, you can afford to have one of them fire you.

Remember, finding a job is challenging no matter how good or bad the economy is…just keep plugging away. A bit of useful advice: if you do not currently have a job, you should treat finding a job like your full time job. Eventually your hard work will pay off and you will land a great job (it might just take some time).

Keep your head up!

-Timothy-

Cindy, I have been telling people exactly the same thing. Don’t hide in the sand. You have to be proactive and prepared. All those of us in the career management field can do is keep echoing that and be visible to help.

Carl, Jason has been talking about multiple lines of income in Jibber-Jobber One Thing as well as this blog. I have always had multiple sources of income but even those are shrinking and I find myself totally excited about moving forward one day and then terrified the next day. I’ve been working on a debt reduction plan for multiple years now with a goal of being debt free but it gets harder when you have to continually stall projects hoping it will be better next year.

The tone of this comment tells you I am in one of those struggle days myself. At these times, I fill myself up with positive reading and music and try to connect with positive people on a daily basis. You have to refuel to be an example or you will be part of the problem.

Speaking from 40 years of personal business experience I have done well in my career no matter how the economy rolled up or down. I have always worked from the perspective of being the “business owner” of my career, not a corporate employee. This mind set has always empowered me be in control of my income and where/when I worked. Running a career as a profitable business provides career insurance, way better than unemployment insurance.

No one is afraid of losing their job. People are afraid of losing the income associated with the job. Eliminate the source of this fear and life is always grand. First order of business as an owner of your career is don’t have one source of income. If it takes 3 years to find a job, so what – the bills are still paid.

As already mentioned in some comments, Networking is a continuous process to bolstering our career insurance package. Using Jibber Jobber to help identify 200+ “5 Star” contacts means anyone can be up and running within 20 days or less, after being dropped from their job abruptly.

Carl E. Reid, CSI
COO, Empowering Today’s Professionals Network
Publisher of Savvy Intrapreneur

I agree with the comment about staying put (Amish term) even if you aren’t happy. However, this is not the time to stick your head in the sand and fall into the false illusion that your job is safe. It isn’t. Long term corporate loyalty (as you said) is long gone. Now is the time to lay the ground work of preparation … figure out your marketable value proposition and how you are different from the competition (brand), get your marketing documents together, network, and build online visibility … so you can shift the job search paradigm in your favor.

If you are too busy working your job to manage your career, you need to be prepared to pay the price. Once you lose your job, regardless of the size of your severance package, your marketability takes a big hit.

Cindy Kraft
the CFO-Coach